


Bereavement Leave

by epersonae



Series: Termination Notice [3]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Dramatic Irony, Gen, awkward workplace conversations, set after Gerblins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 16:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14060676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epersonae/pseuds/epersonae
Summary: The Director makes an apology. Brad talks about his work. It's a little uncomfortable for both of them.





	Bereavement Leave

**Author's Note:**

> I guess I need to make this a series now? Follows Termination Notice and Condolence, more life in a bureaucracy after the death of Magic Brian. I haven't edited this literally at all, either.

She hesitated with her hand hovering at the half-closed door, still debating whether to knock, when he opened it. She looked up.

“Brad.”

“Madame Director? To what do I owe this visit? Everything alright?” He looked tired, dark circles under his eyes, but his smile was pleasant enough.

“You’re doing great work,” she said, and she could see a bit of tension drain out of his shoulders. She glanced back at the open area of the office, just a few people at their desk. “Do you have a minute?”

“For the Director? Of course.” He stood aside and waved her in, then closed the door behind them. He pulled out a chair. “What can I do for you?”

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. Instead of looking at his face, she looked at the relentlessly ordinary detritus of his desk: pencils and paper, the wrapper from a Fantasy Luna bar, a mug with an eagle on it. A cloth for cleaning his glasses. An extra hair tie. A picture frame, face down.

“Ma’am?”

Then she looked at him: he seemed nervous, expectant. His shirt, which was usually so crisp, seemed just slightly rumpled.

“I’m sorry, just a little lost in thought, you know how it is.”

“Of course.”

“I’m actually here to apologize,” she said.

“For…?”

“It was recently brought to my attention that, um.” She cleared her throat. “I understand that you and, uh.” Another breath. “I take it that you have experienced, ah, how do I, a loss?”

His shoulders sagged, and he picked up the mug, turning it over in his hands. There was a quote on it that she couldn’t quite read at that angle.

“You mean Brian?” he said.

“Perhaps if I had known….” 

He shrugged.

“I wouldn’t say that I was  _ surprised _ ,” he said. “There’s a reason we have Regulators, right?” He worried at his lip with one of his tusks. “I’ve been thinking maybe we need to improve our orientation in re: Relic thrall, if you don’t mind my saying.”

She just closed her eyes for a second before saying, “I appreciate that, although you should know I’m considering a little reorg around the whole Reclaimers section and instructions for the other teams.”

He scribbled a note on one of the little slips of paper littering his desk.

“That’s good to know. We like to keep our processes in order here.”

“But that’s not why I’m here,” she said. “I wanted to know if there was anything I could do for you, and also to apologize — if perhaps we should have — I know there wasn’t a Rites of Remembrance.”

He looked down, barely hiding a wince.

“I don’t want anybody…. Feeling sorry for me? What happened, you know, he made some, let’s say, not so great choices, and I have to live with that, right? I don’t want folks here to stand around saying, ‘Oh look, there’s Brad, went out with a guy who went and got himself all thralled,’ or you know, to be trying to say nice things about Bri, when really, he did that to himself, you know?”

“The thrall is an extremely powerful force,” she said. “You can’t entirely blame him for falling under its control.”

“I suppose.” He paused. “I guess it’s good Killian found some folks who could actually…. Funny coincidence, huh? Another elf could, when he couldn’t?”

“Would you like some time off? Maybe take a little break, visit some —”

He frowned and shook his head. “No, definitely not, I’d rather just stick to my work.” He looked at her with open sincere eyes; tired, certainly, but determined. “I’m proud of what we do here, Madame Director, I just wish….” A long sigh as he fiddled with his pencil. “Anyway. No use getting wound up about the past, right? Tomorrow’s a fresh start, and there’s plenty of work to do.” He pushed a strand of hair that had fallen out of his ponytail behind his ear and gave her a smile, just a bit more sincere than before. “I do appreciate you taking the time to come say something though, means a lot. I know you’re a busy lady. Anything else we can do for you down here in HR?”

“No, no, I think that’s pretty much it. We appreciate your work, keep the machine rolling, make sure everybody, ah, gets all paperworked up or whatever.” She stood and walked to the door, then paused again. “Thank you. Thank you for sticking with —” She waved a hand. “ — all this. I know it’s not easy.”

“Easier when you know you’re helping people, right?” he said as he returned to the stack of forms on the desk. 

She nodded. "That it is."


End file.
